Defense leads Lincoln women to first win

LOWER OXFORD -- The first victory of the 2012-13 women’s basketball season couldn’t come soon enough for Lincoln head coach Jessica Kern, but it finally unfolded Tuesday with an impressive finish, which led to a 68-60 decision against visiting Kutztown of the highly respected PSAC.

In her second season at the helm, Kern has watched her Lions drop the season’s first four, but three were by a total of nine points and the fourth came against a Division I opponent. Kern was looking for a strong finishing kick to get over the hump and it happened at Rivero Hall, thanks largely to a rededication on the defensive end.

“We preach to the kids every day about sticking to it and that hard work pays off,” Kern said. “But we’ve had so many close losses they started questioning whether hard work genuinely pays off.

“We had what I like to call a ‘Come to Jesus Meeting’ on Sunday and we discussed that if it’s something you believe in, you don’t stop working just because times get tough.”

Advertisement

Lincoln (1-4) responded by being aggressive and yet composed, forcing 29 turnovers while limiting the Golden Bears (1-2) to just seven free-throw attempts. Conversely, the Lions went to the line 28 times and wound up plus-14 on the freebies. It represents a big turnaround from a team that came in surrendering 71-plus points per outing.

“I think the girls revamped themselves defensively,” Kern explained. “This is my second season and I’ve never seen that energy we had in the locker room today.

“We’ve been sending teams to the line over 20 times and that’s ridiculous. That has nothing to do with the officials at all. It was purely us.

“If this is a mentality we have, and it took a year and four tough ones this season to get there, I’ll take it.”

There were, of course, offensive standouts, but that list doesn’t include leading scorer Denyse Moore, who shot 4-for-14. The heroics came from backcourt mate Cynthia Johnson, who poured in a career-high 25 points, with assists from backups Alaysia Washington and Tahlar McIntosh.

“Now that we got the first one, it’s time to just keep getting wins,” said Washington, who provided a momentum-altering spark with back-to-back three-pointers – her first points of the game – to spearhead a 13-2 rally that put Lincoln in front for good, 49-44, midway through the second half.

“We definitely saw this (win) coming, especially before the game,” added Johnson. “We came in with a winning attitude.

“In the earlier close games, we didn’t stick the dagger in. Today, it was all about heart.”

The Lions forced 15 turnovers in the first half and had a big edge at the free-throw line, and yet still trailed 28-25 at the break. But Washington got things rolling from the perimeter and then Johnson punctuated the big run with a three-point play, and later helped close out Kutztown with a drive and a couple free throws just when it looked like the Bears had designs on a comeback.

“We all know (Johnson) is shooting it poorly from the free-throw line,” Kern acknowledged. “She was 3-for-8 in the first half and I said, ‘C.J., if you can’t hit from the charity stripe, I just can’t play you.’ She said, ‘That’s OK, I got five in a row the second half.’ That’s the first time I’ve heard something like that from her.”

Johnson went out and made it happen, going a perfect 5-for-5 in the second half from the line. Washington added another big three-pointer and finished with nine points in just 13 minutes of action. And McIntosh chipped in 10 points, making up for Moore, who added 11 points, which is 12 below her season average.

“Denyse is going to have to learn how to be second,” Kern pointed out. “She is not a selfish kid and is extremely humble, but tonight she learned to let the offense come to her instead of pushing so hard.

“But it is nice when you have the people to take the pressure off a little bit. This year players are fighting for spots. Tahlar is becoming so consistent and Alaysia wants her starting spot back.”

Displaying tenacious defense from the outset, LU held the Bears scoreless through the opening six and a half minutes of action, and eventually built a 19-14 lead. But that’s when Kutztown flipped the script by reeling off 10 points in a row to seize the lead with three minutes left in the half, setting the stage for the late push.

“All we talked about heading in to this game was defense,” Johnson said.

“When I got my chance, my mindset was to start with defense because offense isn’t guaranteed, but defense is something you can control,” Washington added. “If I can do it on defense, the offense will flow. Once I had the hot hand, I just wanted to share the energy with my teammates.”